Living in Kansas as a Rivier NP student
Rivier University's State Guide shows Kansas green for the FNP, the PMHNP and every graduate program beside them. The Kansas State Board of Nursing puts no gate in front of enrollment for a distance APRN program based elsewhere; it examines the program when you later ask Kansas for an APRN license, so read its checklist now.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Rivier program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Rivier course.
Kansas at a glance on Rivier's guide
Kansas, as Rivier's January 2025 guide colors it:
| Program | Color | Rivier's wording |
|---|---|---|
| FNP (MSN and certificate) | Green | OK to accept |
| PMHNP (MSN and certificate) | Green | OK to accept |
| Nursing Education | Green | OK to accept |
| Leadership in Health Systems Management | Green | OK to accept |
| DNP | Green | OK to accept |
| ASN/BSN pre-licensure | Yellow | Limiting criteria; talk to the program director |
| RN to BSN | Green | OK to accept |
The chart covers acceptance; Kansas licensure belongs to KSBN. Acute care applicants will find no AG-ACNP column, so ask the Program Director about Kansas. The State Guide page has the full key.
KSBN checks your program at licensure
KSBN's position is that a Kansas resident can start a distance APRN program run from another state with no formal Board approval of that program beforehand. At licensure the Board confirms three credit hours in each of the three advanced courses, pharmacology, health assessment and pathophysiology, a program of 45 credit hours or more, and national accreditation.
It also counts role-and-specialty clinical hours, 500 or 750 depending on whether you were admitted before or after March 1, 2025. Rivier's totals vary by document: 750 practicum hours for the FNP and PMHNP in the Handbook, 610 for the FNP in the 2025-26 catalog, as the FNP hours page explains. Rivier lists the MSN FNP at 45 credits and the PMHNP at 43, so bring your Program of Studies and KSBN's list to the Program Director before counting on a Kansas license plan.
Check your Program of Studies against KSBN's list now.
Who KSBN expects to precept APRN students
KSBN asks three things of an APRN preceptor in Kansas: an orientation, a signed agreement, and a Kansas APRN license matching your role, with K.A.R. 60-17-104 as its authority. Clinical supervision of an APRN student, in KSBN's words, requires a Kansas APRN license. Your own status is that of an advanced practice nursing student working on an RN license Kansas recognizes.
Rivier's Handbook also accepts an MD or DO for the FNP and a psychiatrist for the PMHNP. A Kansas-licensed FNP or PMHNP satisfies both lists; before you settle on a physician, ask the Program Director. AANP puts Kansas in full practice, which places NPs running their own practices on your list, and the FNP preceptor requirements cover Rivier's side.
Kansas City, Wichita, Topeka and Manhattan
Wichita and the Kansas side of greater Kansas City are the two biggest markets, with Topeka and Manhattan behind them. The University of Kansas Health System, Wesley Healthcare (HCA's Wichita system), Stormont Vail Health and Ascension Via Christi come up often in student research; all four publish their own terms for students. Independent family and psychiatric practices are worth calling as well.
A clinic across the line in Missouri changes the analysis. Check Missouri's row on Rivier's guide and whether your license reaches it; the Missouri page is the place to start.
Your RN license and the Nashua intensives
The compact took effect in Kansas in July 2019. KSBN accepts either kind of RN license for APRN students in Kansas clinical settings, single-state Kansas or multistate, and either one satisfies Rivier's practicum-state rule; only the multistate kind also covers you in New Hampshire. Kansas has no APRN Compact statute, so your Kansas APRN license will be a separate application after you finish.
Every Rivier NP track includes campus time in Nashua, nine days in three intensives for FNP students among them. For 2026-27 the FNP windows sit in late August and early January; the campus intensives page has the specifics.
Why Kansas students choose us
We start Kansas searches from KSBN's preceptor expectations, so the clinicians we bring you hold Kansas APRN licenses in your role wherever possible and meet Rivier's track rules as well. We handle the Preceptor Request Form paperwork, confirm the site will sign an agreement with Rivier, and keep to the four-month lead. Rivier's graduate faculty decide on the site, and our packet hands them everything at once. To begin, share your track and start term in the form below.
Questions Rivier students ask
Does Kansas have to approve Rivier's online NP program before I enroll?
No. KSBN sets no formal approval requirement for distance APRN programs from other states at the point a Kansas student enrolls. Its review comes at the moment a graduate applies to KSBN for APRN licensure, and it covers coursework, total credits, national accreditation and clinical hours. Compare your Program of Studies with that list early.
Must my Kansas preceptor hold a Kansas APRN license?
Per KSBN, yes for APRN preceptors: a Kansas APRN license matching your role, and the same license for anyone supervising APRN students clinically. Rivier also accepts physicians for some tracks, so ask the Program Director before you rely on a physician preceptor in Kansas.
Can I do my practicum in Kansas City, Missouri, while living in Kansas?
Only if Missouri works for your program on Rivier's State Guide and your RN license is valid there. A Kansas multistate license reaches other compact states, so confirm Missouri's compact and guide status before you contact a clinic across the line.
Do Rivier's online faculty need Kansas licenses?
Not according to KSBN, which exempts program faculty teaching online from Kansas licensure. For your practicum, the licenses that count are your own RN license, recognized in Kansas, and your preceptor's Kansas APRN license. Rivier collects the first with your clinical requirements, and the second travels with the Preceptor Request Form.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets, catalog, academic calendar and State Guide. Your program of study, your course faculty, your Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Rivier track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who meet your track's rules, check early whether the site can contract with Rivier, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for, well ahead of August 1 and December 1.
- Preceptors matched to the track: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice for
NURS 511, a psychiatrist or PMH-certified NP forNURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist forNURS 638P - Preceptor license, credentials and CV ready for the Preceptor Request Form, with the site's contact details for the contract
- In your own area, in New Hampshire or any state Rivier's State Guide accepts
Start your placement plan
Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.